For his first day of work in June 1999, Scott Smith arrived at the makeshift bat factory, a three-level brick corner house in ...

Maple has a tight grain structure and is a harder ... the hardness of the wood transmitted more energy from the bat to the ball than ash. During spring training in 1999, he called Smith to vent ...

Maple has a tight grain structure and is a harder ... the hardness of the wood transmitted more energy from the bat to the ball than ash. By spring training in 1999, he was drowning in maple ...